Masao Abe: A Spiritual Friendship

Inter-religious friendships - in this case, a friendship between a Buddhist and a Christian - are an important sign of the times in this period when Christians must respond to the challenges posed by the plurality of religious traditions. This essay tells of the author's long-standing friendship with Abe Masao, the leading exponent of Zen to the West for many decades. Sustaining such friendships requires a spirituality attuned to the need to welcome and honor the Other without subsuming the Other into a Christian theological worldview. The author reflects in some depth on the Buddhist principle of emptiness and its impact on his own Christian spirituality.